Saturday, 27 February 2010

It seems Linden Labs is ready to roll out another new shiny for all of us to 'ohhh' and 'ahhh ' over!! Only THIS time, I truly think this will be 'ohhh-able' and 'ahhh-able.' Yes..so they aren't really words, I have a bit of poetic license, don't I ? * grins*

On March 3, there will be a new release for Xstreet, which includes a new way to shift linden dollars to Xstreet. What will this mean for you? Well, you will no longer have to be in the midst of shopping on Xstreet ONLY to realize that you don't have the correct funds and then ONLY to have to stop shoping to have to go in world...find an Xstreet terminal and add funds to your Xstreet acount via the terminal. Phew....I am TIRED just writing about it! So how will this work? According to Siz Linden:

You will be able see your available Second Life balance and transfer fundsin three easy steps.

1. Click on the Transfer option in the "My Marketplace" box.

2 .Enter the quantity of L$ to transfer from your Second Life account.

3. Click transfer to complete the transaction.

This will be a major turning point for merging the XStreet SL account with the Second Life Dollars account. So for those of us who like to shop (I know who you are!), Xstreet has now made it easier and more efficient

Tuesday, 23 February 2010

Lots of eyes will be on the SL Blog for news of the release of the V2.0 Viewer (Beta). News of its pending release is all over the metaways!!So are you excited or are you fearing the worst for your SL experience?

Well, it would seem we do not have long to wait to find out....but in the meantime...here is a pic of the new viewer German Style.And here is a tour video of the new viewer:

Wednesday, 17 February 2010

I found this machinima in my meanderings on the internet and was simply blown away by the cinematography. This is a Second Life adaptation of a Brazilian folk tale , produced by SpyVSpy productions. I imagine, as a kid, what it would be like to to watch a story being presented in this manner and how entharlling it would be to me. I am increasingly amazed at the movies, (for in my opinion, this truly IS a movie to me) that are being produced in Second Life. As we continue our journey in Second Life , it will be interesting to see just how far over the rainbow we get to go! I hope you enjoy this machinima as much as I did!

Friday, 12 February 2010

Tonite at 6PM PST , the opening ceremonies of the 2010 Winter Olympics will begin at BC Place in Vancouver,British Columbia and will feature, among other events and exhibits, the lighting of the Olympic cauldron. Always a huge extravaganza and always kept very hush- hush (or as much as can be done in this media gone mad world) there is much speculation about what the opening cermonies will bring in both flavor and fantasy. There have already been some leaks as to who is performing with bets on Canadians Nelly Furtado, Sarah Mclaughlin and Bryan Adams being some of the featured artists. Like the rest of the world, we shall have to wait and see what is in store!!!

One of the much anticipated performances of the Opening ceremonies is ' We are the World - 25 for Haiti' , aptly titled as it is a benefit for Haiti. Organized by Lionel Richie and Quincy Jones, this remake will bring together the likes of Janet Jackson, Justin Bieber, Jordin Sparks, Kanye West, Lil Wayne and Pink — along with some newly added artists who won't be revealed until the remake airs.

Let the games begin....

The theme of the 2010 Winter Olympics is : Inspire The World, which I find rather suiting as every year, millions of people are inspired by not only the athletes themselves but by the the coming together of so many countries for one common goal:the pursuit of human excellence. This year there will be over 80 nations participating with over 2600 athletes taking part in these Olympic games.

Date and time: 6:00pm PST: February 12, 2010Location: BC Place in VancouverTheme: "To Inspire the World"Budget for Opening and Closing Ceremonies:: $40 million

Television viewers: Estimated three billionMarks the first time that Olympic ceremonies will be held indoorsMascots: Miga, a sea bear, Quatchi, a Sasquatch, and Sumi, an animal spiritNumber of Paralympic athletes and officials: 1,350Countries participating in Olympic Winter Games: 80+Countries participating in Paralympic Winter Games: 40+2010 Olympic Winter Games events tickets available: 1.6 million2010 Paralympic Winter Games events tickets available: 250,000Estimated number of media representatives: 10,000Estimated number of Games volunteers: 25,000

For me, the Olympics always remind me that while we are a world of many different countries and cultures, physical competition is something we all have in common and which brings us together, on so many levels!

Sunday, 7 February 2010

While traditionally the Super Bowl has been touted as an American past time,it seems this iconic past time has gone somewhat international!!! Across the pond,check out the live game in the small hours of the morn on BBC in the UK. (Ummmm.... That will be a start time of 11 PM for the most die hard fans in the UK !!! *YAWN* ) Starting at midnight in Belgium, fans will be grabbing a beer and watching on Prime Sport TV, which will be broadcasting the game live in Belgium for the 5th consecutive year. If you're looking for a place to watch it abroad....check it out!

Always a big time thriller, this year's halftime show goes back a few decades with an appearance by 'THE WHO' . I imagine some of the fans will be saying... who? Who IS The Who?

For those who LOVE Trivia , here are some more Super Bowl fascinating facts for you:

· 8 million pounds of guacamole is consumed on Super Bowl Sunday.· 14,500 tons of chips are eaten along with that guacamole.· The average number of people at a Super Bowl Party is 17.· 5% of Americans will watch the game alone.· Of the top 10 most watched television programs of all time, 9 of them are Super Bowls.· Budweiser has been the exclusive Super Bowl beer advertiser for the past 13· years.· The Super Bowl is measured in Roman numerals because a football season runs the span over two calendar years. The year the season began in 2006 and ends in 2007.· Since the 1980s the Super Bowls have always started around 6pm Eastern Standard Time.· More drivers are involved in alcohol-related accidents on Super Bowl Sunday than any other day of the year (except St. Patrick's Day), according to the Insurance Information Institute.· 35% of people who attend the game write it off as a corporate expense.Over 700,000 footballs are produced annually for official NFL use and 72 of them are used for the Super Bowl.· The Super Bowl has been played in south Florida 8 times, today's game will be the ninth.· Super Bowl fans spend more than $50 million on food during the 4 days prior to the super bowl.

Wednesday, 3 February 2010

This web app, I found, while reading the SL Alphaville Herald "tabloid" yesterday and I got such a kick out of it I just had to share.

Xtranormal is a web based* application that allows you to make animated shows with cartoon "actors". It is very easy to make fun movies using your own script. Now please, this is not Pixar or Universal studios, so don't expect uber shiny CGI . This is great fun and very simple to use.

Basically you are given some preset scenes and "actors" (yes luvvy) to work with. To each scene you can add your own lines for the actors to speak.Then you can add sound effects, animations and expressions from set menus with a simple drag and drop. It can feel a little limiting once you get into it but I had a real hoot. The text to speech and lip synching was very cool and with the ability to change the character voices another dimension is added.

The completed projects can be uploaded to youtube and/or kept on the Xtranormal servers. There is also a download and embed feature. The interface is really simple to use and very quickly you can produce very amusing cartoon or a funny personal message to someone.

Perhaps in the future there will be the ability for users to add scenes , actors, voices etc. It will be interesting to see where this sort of technology can go.

If you want to make your own cartoon and show it on this blog, let us know and we will embed your Spielbergesque feature!!

Monday, 1 February 2010

Having had a good look around Avatar United after reading Avatars, Unite! on the Second Life blog, I have to say I have been reasonably impressed. Yes, it lacks functionality and yes it is glitchy as hell and has had it's infamous DB collapse where tons of data just disappeared....BUT I view this as teething troubles. It may have been more sensible for LL to have prepared their newly acquired social networking tool before shouting it from the roof tops, but that's done now...let's look forward.

In isolation, this acquisition is rather too focused in market terms, but as a part of a much larger marketing strategy it is very much a worthy addition. Certainly Second Life avatars will eat this up. It gives them just what they need at a time when other social networking sites are treating avatars like lepers and trying to out, well, everyone. If you value control of your privacy and are PROUD of your avatar then Avatars United is just the ticket!Whether or not avatars from other virtual worlds, mporg's etc really want to join in a LL controlled venture remains to be seen. For me, I think if it has its very obvious flaws quickly ironed out ,this is a great buy for LL.

Pretty much all of the Tribe Team are aboard AU and have their pages set up. We hope to see you onboard and look forward to seeing you and hopefully Uniting with you!!

Avatars, Unite!!!!nb:One thing that the site DOES lack and something that quite frankly is a huge miss is its ability to verify avatar names. Why is this important? Well it means ANYONE can sign up as ANY avatar if the name is still available. So it would be wise, if you are intending using AU to sign up your avatar name asap to avoid someone else claiming your name !!